Matthias Clamer and “The Machine That Makes You Musical”

Photo illustration by Matthias Clamer for The New York Times.

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The New York Times Magazine yesterday published a feature on Smule, the California-based company that brought us Ocarina, an app that makes an iPhone into a flute, of sorts. The magazine commissioned Matthias Clamer to create a photo illustration (above) to go with the story. As writer Rob Walker notes in the piece, “the common aim of Smule’s products is to prod nonmusicians into making music and to interact with others doing the same”—a notion that Matthias communicates with cheerful absurdity. Read the full story, “The Machine That Makes You Musical,” here.